Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 85 Those who argue will always be argued with.
"Qiang! Qiang Qiang!"

"Zheng!"

The blade of the Miao sword struck the tip of the spear, producing a crisp metallic clang.

The spear is a standard two-meter-long, pointed spear used in competitions, with a red tassel and a wooden shaft. It weighs less than two pounds in total and is a long weapon used for performance. The Miao sword, on the other hand, is a two-handed Qi family sword that is 1.4 meters long and weighs nearly three pounds. Although it is not sharpened, it looks menacing.

The clash of swords and spears lasted only a moment. In just a few moves, with a crisp "clang," the spear was flicked upwards by the Miao sword. A tremendous force struck, forcing Han Yi to lift the spear and retreat several steps to dissipate the force.

However, the next moment, the Miao sword slashed horizontally at Han Yi's chest. The huge impact knocked him to the ground, and the Miao sword that cut him down was even used only with the back of the blade.

The outcome was decided in the blink of an eye. Yun Ling, the owner of the Miao sword, leaned the sword against his shoulder, freed his hands, and clapped exaggeratedly, praising with an unusually sincere expression: "Not bad, not bad, you lasted for more than ten seconds this time, you've improved!"

Han Yi reluctantly got up from the ground: "Senior Sister Yun, please stop making fun of me..."

Yun Ling, who had considerable experience with the art of heart-piercing techniques, said even more sincerely, "Hey, I'm really being sincere in my praise! You've only been practicing for a few days! It's good that you can withstand two moves!"

Han Yi retorted defiantly, "I think it must be because two-handed swords are effective against long spears. Maybe if you used some short weapon like the Emei dagger, I could last a few more seconds!"

Yun Ling chuckled and asked with interest, "Why don't you give it a try?"

"Don't bully Xiao Han," Coach Ren, who couldn't stand it anymore, stopped Yun Ling and turned to Han Yi, saying earnestly, "Your senior sister Yun Ling has won the World Traditional Wushu Championship in the short weapon category. If you ask her to play Emei daggers with you, it's like lighting a lantern in the toilet—you're asking for death!"

Han Yi was stunned upon hearing this: "Holy crap, really?!"

Coach Ren chuckled and retorted, "What do you think?"

"Your senior sister will always be your senior sister!"

Yun Ling chuckled as she spoke, skillfully taking the spear from Han Yi's hand and placing it back on the weapon rack along with the Miao sword. Then she turned and called out, "Let's go! We'll stop here for today. I still need to memorize my lessons before going to the cafeteria for lunch! You guys have to attend classes in the game later, don't you?"

Han Yi had heard of this before; he had heard his senior classmates complain about it quite a bit when he ate in the cafeteria.

The so-called "memorization" was a course taught by Coach Ren, Master Chen, and Coach Wang to the six groups of members. It was said that it was to familiarize them with the cultivation methods and techniques in the game world in advance. The project team copied and compiled a lot of basic cultivation content, then simplified it and arranged it into the course. These were all required readings for the six groups of members, which was quite a lot.

Han Yi followed along, chatting as they walked: "Senior Sister Yun, how many books are you going to memorize?"

Upon hearing this, Yun Ling's face immediately fell, her expression seemingly one of great pain: "Eight books to memorize! Eight books! My god, I didn't even work this hard for the college entrance exam!"

"Why so many!"

Yun Ling complained, "You bet! Besides the basic stuff related to Qi cultivation, there are also tutorials on the Five Elements, and even things like geography and sect introductions that we have to memorize! I'm really fed up! I've been practicing martial arts since I was four, and I've never memorized any of these martial arts manuals. Why is cultivating immortality so painful! I heard there used to be more than thirty sets of materials, but we had to protest together to reduce it to eight—but eight is still a lot!"

Han Yi comforted him, "Anyway, there's no rush. Who knows when the next quota will be released!"

Yun Ling said smugly, "That's true! That's why I haven't memorized a single one yet, hehe!"

Han Yi: "..."

So what are you so smug about?!

The two quickly entered the cafeteria. It was lunchtime, and compared to when he first arrived, the cafeteria was now packed with people at mealtimes. Aunt Wang said that the higher-ups were planning to build another separate cafeteria.

Han Yi grabbed a pre-loaded lunchbox and even added two tea eggs on top as an extra treat. As soon as he sat down, he began to wolf down his food.

"You look like you haven't eaten in eight lifetimes!"

Yun Ling let out a disdainful snort and complained about Han Yi before devouring her lunchbox like a hungry wolf.

"I get beaten up every day, and my physical strength is so depleted. How can I not eat more?"

"Saying you have bad table manners doesn't mean you eat a lot! You didn't even eat as much as I did! You Southerners are so lame!"

Han Yi rolled his eyes, mumbling between bites, "You talk like you're not from the South!" "That's different. I'm a 'Southerner who can eat a lot,' we're not even the same species!"

As Yun Ling spoke, she took a big bite of the glistening braised pork and commented, "The taste is alright, but without chili peppers, it's not fragrant enough!"

"Who puts chili peppers in their braised pork?!"

Yun Ling picked out the chili peppers from the stir-fry, put them in her mouth, chewed them without changing her expression, and said confidently, "We put them in S Province!"

"Hey! Senior Sister Yun! Old Han! You're here too!"

As the two were chatting, they heard Zhao Qing's voice. She put her bowl of rice noodles on the table, sat down next to Yun Ling, and teased her with a gloating tone, "With Senior Sister Yun here today, Old Han must have gotten quite a beating, right?"

Han Yi said, "Don't get cocky, it'll be your turn tomorrow!"

Zhao Qing shrugged: "It doesn't matter! Anyway, I only need strength training, so I basically don't get beaten up!"

Yun Ling nodded: "That's true. The Golden Gourd Hammer, especially a blunt weapon like the double hammers, is basically all about brute force. Technique is secondary. Even if I beat her ten times, it wouldn't make a difference!"

"It's okay! Strength is only temporary, but being handsome is for a lifetime!" Han Yi comforted himself. "If you wield two big hammers, people will call you An Lushan or Cheng Yaojin, but if I use a spear, people will say I have the demeanor of a dream god!"

"What? Dream God can destroy the crystal without minions, can you take on the Red Plains Cave next door with just a spear?"

"No, this level of intensity is completely different!"

"Well, the only thing you and the Dream God have in common is that you are both human."

Yun Ling sighed, as if it were a common occurrence: "Fine, you two are arguing again!"

Before Han Yi could refute Zhao Qing, he was patted on the shoulder. The Jade Emperor placed the lunchbox on the table and greeted them, "Hey, Senior Sister Yun and Second Senior Sister are here too! Chatting so happily!"

"Old Han just got beaten up and is questioning his existence," Zhao Qing asked with a grin. "I haven't seen you all afternoon, where have you been?"

"Don't even mention it! The class was going so well, but then their professor suddenly called an emergency meeting, and that Professor Wang who was teaching me just dragged me into the meeting room! How could I possibly listen to that?!" The Jade Emperor, looking like he'd gotten a good deal but was still being smug, winked and said, "Professor Wang is supposedly from the physics group, you know what? They recreated two experiments in a game and calculated the gravitational constant and the speed of light, and it's actually the same as on Earth!"

Zhao Qing and Yun Ling, two art students, looked at the Jade Emperor with blank expressions. The former even asked, "And then?"

"What do you mean, 'then'? This means that the game world could very well be a parallel universe to our planet!"

"Oh--"

The three of them exclaimed in unison, "Isn't that obvious? If the 'Ten Continents Chronicle' is real, it certainly can't be from the same universe as us—or rather, from the same world rules! Haven't you tried bringing the cultivation theories and knowledge from the game into reality?"

"Of course I tried that, but you can't cultivate immortality that way..."

"That settles it! The rules of the world are all different!"

"Your theory is too fantastical! It's not scientific at all! Maybe the inability to cultivate immortality is due to a different human anatomy?"

"The talisman isn't working either!"

"Without spiritual energy, of course you can't use the talisman!"

"The ignition point of metals is different from the boiling point of water!"

"Maybe not even on the same planet?"

Zhao Qing slammed her hand on the metal table with a loud thud, and yelled angrily, "You little brat, are you trying to mess with me?!"

"No, no, no, sis, please continue—"

(End of this chapter)